Make Your Garage Pop with Contrast

by Rachel Lyon, Editorial Director for The House Designers

If you’re trying to create a great exterior design for your home, make sure to give the garage your attention. Garage doors take up a lot of visual real estate and more than pull their weight for curb appeal when done right! One way to draw attention to the garage area and break up the monotony of the wall is by choosing a door with contrast. That can mean different things in different circumstances, so here are some examples of contrasting garage doors you can use as inspiration!

Complementary Garage Door Colors

Do you know what sort of color palette you want for your home? Once you have an idea, you can start making informed decisions about all the individual aspects that create the whole picture. Siding color is a big one, but the color of your front door, window frames, trim details, and stone elements also have to be taken into account.

A garage door that stands out against the rest of the house adds dimension and interest to the façade. Black doors on a white house are popular for many of today’s modern farm designs, as are warm, wood-colored doors on white or black exteriors. Of course, almost any color will pop against a white wall, so don’t be afraid to consider the whole spectrum to find the right fit for your house, your surroundings, and your aesthetic preferences. If your home has colored walls, a darker garage door often looks good, but don’t be afraid to branch out into complementary colors. Think hues that offset against each other—like blue with red or yellow.

Two-Tone Garage Doors

A garage door can also have contrast within itself, if you want something more dramatic than a solid single color. You’ll typically see this with carriage house garage doors, which have a base and overlays that are easy to differentiate, but you can always do a custom paint job. We’ve seen everything from different colors used on the top and bottom portions of a plank-style door to the highs and lows of raised and recessed panels in contrasting tones.

Those who opt for a two-tone garage door should consider if either color will match the house’s siding. This is a common look for dressy Victorian homes, where the base of a carriage house door is often the same as the walls to let the overlays stand out like the trim across the rest of the exterior. If that’s too much matching for you, don’t worry—many people choose another color, typically darker or complementary, for the base to give the garage door its own character.

Garage Doors with Natural Wood Variation

As a natural material, wood comes in a huge range of colors. And we don’t just mean the differences between species—even pieces of the same log can come out in various hues and grain patterns. While some homeowners are put off by the inconsistency, part of the beauty of a wood garage door is the truly one-of-a-kind finish it gives your home!

Wood and wood-look garage doors complement all kinds and colors of homes. As with painted doors, you have plenty of opportunities with wood to dial up or down the contrast. Consider the wood itself and stain options to create a suitable match for the rest of your design scheme. Worried that you might not love the outcome with natural wood? Wood-look garage doors offer more consistent quality and reproducible results, so you can select with confidence!

Grid-Style Glass Garage Doors

In a category all their own, modern garage doors that fill an aluminum grid with glass panels really widen the possibilities. They offer a range of frame colors and glass types to give you more design flexibility than you might think—while dark frames and lighter glass are commonly paired, you can opt for a light frame and darker glass or match dark with dark or light with light. In any case, the real contrast comes from the solid grid and transparent glass panels.

These glass garage doors break up the wall more like a series of windows than a regular door, and the grid element adds an eye-catching pattern you’re unlikely to find elsewhere on a house. Many homeowners love the look on its own, but the aesthetic effect of a warmly glowing garage to welcome you home in the evening is also a huge draw. If you’re concerned about privacy, make sure to look through the glass options—there are plenty of partially obscured and totally opaque glass types that will block the view inside but still let plenty of light through.

Whatever sort of garage door you need to perfect your home’s curb appeal, Clopay® is ready to help make it happen! They have something for everybody with traditional carriage house and panel garage doors as well as modern plank and glass options. Take some time to configure a great garage door with this free visualizer tool or reach out to a local dealer today!